


They Also Serve

by ishafel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-26
Updated: 2011-01-26
Packaged: 2017-10-15 02:58:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/156331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishafel/pseuds/ishafel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry does the Right Thing.  Crack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Also Serve

Hermione says that he's evil, but Harry doesn't believe that, not really. Dumbledore changed, Snape changed, Lucius Malfoy changed. Surely Draco can change, too. He just needs someone to believe in him. If only Harry had taken Draco's hand, all those years ago on the train to Hogwarts, Draco might never have taken the Mark, never followed his father and the Dark Lord down the road to hell. Harry doesn't really believe that, either, but he likes to think he does. It makes him feel tragic and important.

The thing is, Draco might not spend his weekends raping the daughters of blood traitors, or his weeknights eating Muggle babies and Kneazles, but he isn't always very nice. He cheats on his taxes. He cheats on his boyfriends. He steals things from shops. He uses the M word, in front of Hermione and Ron both. He leaves the toilet seat up, mostly because he knows it drives Ginny mad. When they go out, he never has any Galleons on him, and he never pays anyone back or buys a round. He drinks too much, and he goes to work hungover. He does drugs and has unprotected sex with strangers in the bathrooms at nightclubs.

He isn't exactly evil, but he isn't good, either. Harry's been trying for years to reform him, but it's awfully hard. He never had much sympathy for Dumbledore, but now he wonders if Snape was like this. Did Snape nick fags and justify it by saying they were American anyway? Did Snape wear really tight tank tops so the Mark on his arm showed, and did he tell Muggles he'd got it while he was in the Navy? Harry isn't sure, but he thinks Draco is too young to have fought in Desert Storm, whatever Draco says.

The thing is, if Lucius Malfoy can redeem himself by turning Malfoy Manor into a shelter for homeless crups, surely Draco can be turned into an average citizen. Harry isn't aiming for sainthood, but he wants to keep Draco out of prison. He wants to turn Draco into the sort of man Hermione and Ron can respect, the kind of man Harry can take by the Burrow at Yule, or just be seen in public with in the nicer parts of wizarding London.

He feels sort of responsible for Draco, like his rejection drove Draco toward a life of crime. And he really likes Draco. When Draco isn't being rude or mean—-and even when he is—-he's awfully funny. Hermione's clever, and Ron's loyal, and Ginny's determined, but they're all awfully earnest about politics and quidditch and having babies. Harry sort of missed out on having a childhood, and he spent his school years fighting in the war, and he isn't really sure he's ready to be a grownup quite yet.

He wants to have a little bit of fun, and Draco is the only person he knows who seems to be having any. But he isn't quite ready to do anything really bad, which is why he's been trying to redeem Draco by being a good example. It just isn't working.

So finally he goes to Malfoy Manor one afternoon, set on reforming Draco or breaking things off with him. He can't be friends with someone who doesn't even try to be nice. Draco's mum lets Harry in—-even though they're twenty-six, Draco still lives in his parents' poolhouse because they don't charge him rent and that means he can spend all his money on blow and racing brooms and men—-and nods vaguely at him. Harry isn't quite sure she's entirely reformed either, but he's never been sure she was actually a Death Eater, and besides he's a little afraid of her.

Despite the fact that it's four in the afternoon and all of the crups are barking like mad, Draco's asleep. Harry pounds on the door until he opens it. He's not wearing any clothes, just a sheet wrapped around his waist. His hair is sticking up and he still has a tan from a long weekend in Ibiza he somehow convinced the College he had coming as mental health days. He smiles sleepily at Harry and lets him in.

Harry isn't really used to seeing people half-naked like that, not in daylight, and not male people. He sits stiffly in an armchair on top of a mound of clothes the Malfoy house elves have carefully ironed in the minutes they have to spare from cleaning out crup kennels. He tells Draco exactly how he feels. Draco falls asleep in the middle, and Harry has to get up and nudge him awake and sit down quickly before Draco notices Harry's in bed with him.

When it's all laid out, Draco makes a counteroffer. He says that he'll be good, but only if Harry will give up being heterosexual and rigidly moral, and let Draco fuck him into the middle of next week. This is a big sacrifice on Harry's part, though not quite as big as dying, of course. He thinks about it for quite a long time—-nearly a minute and a half.

On the one hand, the greater good would be served if Harry could help Draco to become a better person. But on the other hand, Harry would have to prostitute himself and perform repugnant and possibly illegal sexual acts, and Ginny would be deeply hurt and might not speak to him for several hours.

Fortunately Harry has Dumbledore's example to look to. He says to himself, what would Albus Dumbledore do in this situation? He thinks that Dumbledore would want for him to do whatever he could to redeem Draco. No matter how personally difficult it is for him to touch all that lovely, lightly tanned, muscular man-flesh. So he sighs, and takes off his clothes and climbs into bed with Draco, thinking that it's a good thing he no longer has to justify all of his actions to the Order.

Draco doesn't seem particularly surprised or disappointed by Harry's choice. Undoubtedly he's been secretly longing to be reformed for a long time, and this is just his way of giving in without surrendering. He leans over and kisses Harry on the mouth. It's pleasanter than Harry expected, rather like kissing a girl, only less wet because Draco isn't weeping—-yet. He lies back against the pillows and thinks of the Chudley Cannons and kittens and how Dumbledore's portrait will smile when Harry tells it what he's done. It's lovely, being a hero and giving things up for a good cause.


End file.
